does.” I rephrase my question, wanting an answer. “Why aren’t you happy in the picture?”
She shakes her head. “God, I was such a dunce.”
My blood pressure spikes. “Why aren’t you happy in that picture, Sami?” My hands ball into fists at my side. “Did that asshole force you?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “If I were to guess—because that’s what it will be since I don’t remember that exact instance—I would say that we argued and this was about to be make-up...” She shrugs not finishing her sentence. “He has this thing where he likes to watch.”
“Watch what?” My mind is a cyclone of thoughts.
Watch Sami with another guy.
Watch her with another woman.
Watch her with herself.
“Sami, watch what?”
She turns away. “No details, remember.”
I can’t stop myself as I reach for her shoulder and turn her until she’s facing me. My question comes out louder and gruffer than I intend. “Watch what?”
“Me touching myself.” She lifted her chin toward the computer. “Let me rephrase. He likes to watch women masturbate. Like I said, I wasn’t even his star model.”
Fuck.
Holding onto Sami’s shoulders again, I gently run my hands up and down the soft satin sleeves. The robe she’s wearing is barely long enough to cover her round ass. And if I tug on the sash, I am sure I could get a real-life view of the tits on the screen. Instead, I stay in friend mode. “As long as you were okay with it...”
“I wasn’t okay with pictures.”
“Tell me where you saw that weird color trim.”
“It’s not weird. It actually looks nice. Wait...” Her eyes open wide as she pushes past me and picks up her phone on her bedside stand. “Shit, shit,” she mumbles, scrolling and looking down at her phone. “I deleted most of the pictures with him in them.” She stops and looks up at me. “Here. I must have kept it because his face isn’t in it.” She shoves the screen my direction.
I see a table near an open window. On the table is a wine bucket and glasses. It’s then I see the same trim. My gaze meets hers. “Where was this?”
“In Holland.”
“That bed and breakfast?”
She nods. “It’s called Feliena’s Room. Jack liked it because it’s larger than other rooms and has exclusive access to the porch.”
“Apparently,” I say, going quickly through the pictures, checking out the ones with the greenish trim, “it also has exclusive access to cameras. I know this is hard, but look at the angle of all of the pictures.”
This time, Sami is looking from behind me, her hands on my back as she peeks around my shoulder. “You’re right.”
“Do you know the identities of the other women?”
“Some,” she says as she sits on the edge of the bed. “There are dates. I’m not certain if the dates are representative of when the pictures were taken or when he uploaded them.”
Turning away from the screen, I run my fingers through my hair. “I don’t understand why he has them in his email.”
She shakes her head. “I’ve been looking through them for a over an hour. I’m not the only woman in pictures with dates after our engagement. Hell, Ellen and I aren’t even the only two. It seems that after he sold his apartment, he primarily used the bed and breakfast.”
“This can’t be legal.”
Sami sighs as she falls back on the bed, lifts her arms over her head, and stares up at the ceiling. “You’re naked.”
It is the first time since I crawled out from the sheets that I even considered it.
“Do you want to take my picture?”
Faster than fast-pitch softball, Sami grabs a pillow and chucks it at me. “No. Don’t joke.”
I walk toward her, then lean over her and climb onto the bed until I have her straddled. “Listen to me.”
With an over six-foot-tall, two hundred-plus-pound naked man straddling her, Sami puts her hands over her ears and starts singing. “La la...”
“Oh no.” I reach for her hands one at a time until I have both wrists secured over her head, and her wide-open green eyes staring up at me. “You, Samantha Ann, will listen to me.”
“You can’t make me.”
“I am making you. I have you pinned and your wrists captive.” Keeping her hands secure, I do what any naked friend would do. I untie her robe, stare down at her perfect body, and begin tickling her.
Sami tries to resist, but within seconds, the bedroom rings with her laughter as she wiggles and writhes beneath me. “Stop it,” she cries between